Tokyo: Hit by the world's worst calamity in recent times, the Japanese haven't lost their honesty even in adversity.

Rescue workers and ordinary people have been turning in millions in 'lost' cash found in the rubble in mud-covered coastal areas in the northeastern region of the country.

Police in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures, which were the worst-affected in the recent giant tsunami, are saying that they are receiving tons of cash everyday from the people engaged in clearing the rubble.

According to Japan laws, people who find money can keep it, the quake and tsunami-hit people, most of whom have lost all their life earnings, have not been tempted by wads of currency notes found in the rubble.

A news agency quoted rescue agencies as saying that the survivors are urging the government to use the found piles of cash for reconstruction of the ravaged areas, till the owners were found.

Police say that only 10 per cent of the cash found had been returned to the owners of the total cases. It is not only the piles of cash, but rescue workers often come across giant safes during their work and now the residents of the prefectures are telling the police and the government that they should give the nod to allow opening up of these safes for funding reconstruction work.